18th April 2007. The day Arsenal Football Club died. Look at what David Dein gave to Arsenal and how highly the players' regarded him
Dein was vice-chairman of Arsenal between 1983 and 2007. He was appointed when he bought a 16.6% share of the club for £292,000 At the time of Dein's purchase of the shares in Arsenal in 1983, Peter Hill Wood, Arsenal's chairman, described Dein as "crazy" to invest his money in the club, stating that "to all intents and purposes it's dead money".Dein built up his shares until he owned 42% of the club in 1991. During his time at the club, he was responsible for football matters taking an active role in the transfer of players and contract negotiations where he was able to use his extensive network of football contacts. Dein was behind the appointment of the then little known Arsene Wenger to the manager's job in 1996; under Wenger, Arsenal have won the Premier League three times and the FA Cup six times, and Dein strongly backed him and his transfer wishes throughout.
Dein was instrumental in convincing some of the world's biggest talents to join the club. In September 1991, he helped Arsenal sign Ian Wright from Crystal Palace for £2.5 million. In his autobiography published in October 2016, Ian Wright states that, "He [David Dein] was always very close to the players, he know us all and was always concerned with how we were, how things were going for us, away from the club and within it. He was like a father figure to us, and everybody loved him." In June 1995, Dein flew to Milan "and returned with the signature of, for the first time in Arsenal’s history, a true international superstar: Dutch international Dennis Bergkamp", bought for £7.5 million from Internazionale. Over the following years, Dein was also responsible for recruiting players such as Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit, Marc Overmars, Thierry Henry, Davor Šuker, Robert Pirès, Sol Campbell, Gilberto Silva, Gaël Clichy, Kolo Touré, Cesc Fàbregas and Robin van Persie.All were to contribute heavily to the success of Arsenal.
Former Arsenal hero Ian Wright described David Dein’s departure as follows:
"I know the players aren't happy. I know Thierry Henry's not happy. We're talking about a man [David Dein] who goes into the dressing room after every single game, shakes every player by the hand and who knows all the youth team players."
"I know this for a fact that the manager and the players are 100 per cent behind David Dein and I can see real repercussions coming off the back of this."
Thierry Henry claimed that David Dein's departure as vice-chairman had dismayed him and left him in no doubt that it was time to move on.
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